Haunted Steps
by XXSkittlesXX
Summary: Alice isn't your ordinary person. Although she has a reasonably normal life. Friends, family, school, social status ... apart from the dead boyfriend that haunts her every move. A/H A/U Alice/Jasper
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer- Everything Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer**

This story is being co-written with the truly amazing author melonjane and it is my first collaboration so I'm very excited about it.

This plot and the wonderful prologue were thought up by melonjane so please go to her profile and give her all the reviews she deserves

APOV

If I had known that it was going to be this hard to get rid of his memory, I would've dumped his sorry ass months before his bloody accident.

But no, the retard had to go and get behind the wheel of a car after he just snorted humongous amounts of cocaine.

The crash was sickening, completely wrecked. You couldn't even recognise the car when it hit the tree.

At least he died quickly. God forbid anyone from sitting in that for too long.

And at the funeral, when I had thought that whole 'soul goes to heaven and body returned to earth' shit had happened, the ass turns up next to me, grinning like he hadn't been in car accident and had won some marathon.

And the freakish thing is that no one else saw him. Only I could. I had ignored his presence the entire funeral, until the point where I was about to go bananas at him.

But you know, he just wouldn't back off, would he? No, he had to go a fling his arms in my face, whisper my name in _my_ ear and hug me around the middle. The fucker.

He didn't feel like a fucking ghost at all. He was all jelly-like and squishy, which made me squirm in my seat and attract stares from family and friends.

They thought I was going crazy from grief. Oh boy, were they wrong. I was going crazy from _annoyance_, if that's even possible.

And _James_ just wouldn't take the hint to back off until we were alone.

Even I looked at myself weirdly. In the mirror, as I had passed it the morning after the funeral, I noticed something different. I seemed that little bit paler, and that little bit thinner. James was right behind me when I was staring at myself, and he had that idiotic grin on his face again.

"_What's the matter?"_ he had asked, and I was just about ready to punch his jelly head in.

I had said nothing in response, just glared at him as I left my house. As I got in the car, he had appeared in the passenger seat, and I was about to go crazy.

"_What do you want?"_ I had almost screamed at him.

His grin had fallen, replaced by a dark look. _"Baby, you're mine."_

I was so tempted to ram the passenger's side into a tree. He had chatted on about nothing in particular, and like he hadn't turned sour when I had almost screamed.

Little did I know what really went on in the head of James – dead or alive.

**REVIEW**


	2. An actual anniversary, Please

**DISCLAIMER- Everything Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer**

I am co-Writing this story with the brilliant Ellen, also known as melonjane. I shall be writing the even chapters and she'll be taking care of the odds  
So please if you like this story and if you review on mine go to hers and review also. I know it gets tiresome to review twice for the same story but we both appreciate it!

And the brilliant BETAing that was done to this chapter is all the work of Ellen, so that's another thing to thank her for!  
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story or added it to an alert or a favourite

APOV

My name is Alice Brandon, I'm seventeen years old, five feet tall and unfortunately for me I'm dating the biggest asshole in the whole world.

_James_ has had the immense pleasure of being my boyfriend for the past two years of my life.

I'm sure that you're scratching your head right now and asking yourself:

"If he's such an asshole why doesn't she just break up with him?'

Well my friends, I'm afraid that it's not quite that simple. You see my parents love James, possibly even more that they love me and in my life it's all about making my parents proud. My happiness be damned.

Speak of the devil, I could hear James downstairs laughing with my parents and I knew that it was only a matter of time before one of them came upstairs, knocked on my door and told me to hurry and not keep my _amazing_ boyfriend waiting.

This was somewhat of a ritual of theirs and I had to contain my laughter every time they refereed to James as 'amazing'. If only they knew.

James is the most two faced brown noser that I had ever had the displeasure of meeting and because of this, my parents were seemingly unaware of the fact that he was the worst boyfriend that a teenage girl could ever have.

They were under the impression that the sun shone out of his hairy white ass, but I knew for a fact that James frequently stole money from my mother's purse to feed his uncontrollable drug habit.

However if I tried to bring up the subject of James being anything but perfect I may as well have blasphemed in my parents eyes.

A single derogatory remark regarding James and I'd be grounded for weeks on end, so I had learnt to simply keep my mouth shut and do as James and my parents told me.

I often consoled myself with the fact that I would be eighteen soon and free from James and my family but I knew that it was a hopeless dream. My mother was already planning my wedding and my dad had taken to liking to calling James 'son'.

I had to resign myself to the fact that I belonged to James until he tired of me, but it didn't look as though that would happen anytime soon.

My parents were a constant source of money for him and having me as his girlfriend was a continuous boost to his ego as most of his friends fancied me.

I wasn't a vain person but I knew that I was considered very pretty, perhaps even beautiful by most people. Although I was short I was fairly curvy for a girl of my size and my skin, although pale, was devoid of acne and blemishes and contrasted with my sleek black hair nicely.

I was well aware of the fact that James appreciated the way that I looked but I also knew that he mainly kept me around because of the amount of control that he had over me and the power rush that it gave him.

His friends were especially envious of this control that James possessed over me; I was pretty much at his beck and call at all hours. There was, however, one thing that I remained adamant about refusing him.

James had been pressuring me for quite some time now to give up my virginity to him but that was one thing that would not be happening if I had anything to do with it.

I had been working up the nerve to break up with James for quite some time now but aside from the imagined reaction that I would get from my parents, I was afraid that James might get violent.

He wasn't too bad when he was sober, perhaps a little pompous, arrogant and mean but he wasn't dangerous. Unfortunately when he had been drinking, or worse, taking drugs, he became the most violent and sadistic person in the world. It was times like that I felt truly scared of him instead of just the usual contempt I felt for him.

I was interrupted from my depressing thoughts by a knock on the door and a familiar, "Alice Brandon, you hurry up and come downstairs now. Don't you leave that _amazing_ boyfriend of yours waiting".

Ah that was my mother. I almost smiled at her predictability before I remembered that James was here and I had exactly ten minutes to make myself presentable before my mother sent my father upstairs.

I dressed quickly but nicely, not really caring how I looked, after all it was just James, but well aware of the fact that James would care.

That was another thing; I was never allowed to just wear the clothes that I wanted to. If James didn't approve of my outfit he would berate me endlessly, to the point where I would simply change to avoid the stream of insults and taunts.

I know that by now it's probably sounding as though I'm a sheep who simply does as she is told and has now will power of her own but I considered myself a pretty strong willed person. It was simply easier to do as James told me and then complain about him later in the safe comfort of my friends.

I did stand up for myself when things mattered to me like sex and the time that James tried to make me try cocaine, there was no way that I was going to end up like him, but the little things that would have no effect on my life in the long run I just agreed to.

Things like today, it was an anniversary of sorts for James and I, two years since we had our first kiss, woo hoo – insert sarcasm here. So since it was our 'anniversary' James had convinced me to celebrate by going out on a night on the town with his oafish friends.

It was funny how much he complained that I didn't spend enough time with his friends but he had only ever met my friends a couple of times. I guess I could add hypocrite to his list of faults, if you could call it a list, I swear it was getting so lengthy that I could probably start calling it his book of faults.

I was just brushing my short black hair into a cute bob when my bedroom door creaked open and James stuck his head through my door, smiling as he saw me.

"Come on, babe, we got stuff to do and we're running behind schedule. We still have to pick up Laurent and Victoria," he smiled but I could see the threat in his eyes. I'd better pick up the pace or he would make my night miserable.

"Sure James, I'm done now anyway," I plastered a kind smile onto my face, "so are you going to tell me where we're going?"

I didn't want to end up at some nightclub on the bad side of town with James and his friends baked out of their heads and no way of getting home.

"Nope, I already told you it's a surprise," he grinned and I sighed, knowing that I could push the issue no further without angering him.

"Let's go babe," he said, grabbing my hand and dragging me out my door so fast that I didn't even had a chance to grab my purse.

He must really be excited about whatever he had planned for tonight. I wasn't quite sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Oh look at you two, so adorable," my mother cooed as he dragged me through the living room, "you take as long as you want; it's not often that a young couple have been together as long as you have. I'm so proud of the two of you."

I almost threw up in my mouth at her words and I was actually glad when James led me out of the house before my mother could insist that we get photos to mark this occasion.

"You look hot, babe," James smiled and I grinned.

It was the closest thing to a compliment that I had received from him in months and even though it wasn't the sweetest or most romantic thing that he had ever said to me, it was still nice to hear.

Perhaps my anniversary wouldn't be too bad after all, although James could be a major asshole I could still remember the good times with him.

There was the time he had asked me to be his girlfriend, our first Valentine's Day – when he had bought me three different types of flowers because he didn't know which I would prefer, and my sixteenth birthday when he had taken me to my favourite restaurant and had the waiters sing happy birthday to me.

Of course that was before all the drugs and before Laurent and Victoria.

I knew that it was wishful thinking to hope that the old James would make an appearance tonight, especially with Laurent and Victoria tagging along, but it didn't mean that I couldn't hope anyway.

We were supposed to be picking James' friends up from out in front of the local college where they went to school and sure enough as we drove past I could spot Victoria's tell tale flaming red hair and Laurent's dark dreadlocks.

"Hey Vicki, hi Laurent," James smiled.

"Hello," I murmured as I still wasn't comfortable with his friends although I supposed that it didn't help that I despised both of them.

"Hi Jamie, hey Alice," Victoria greeted and I threw her a sideways look.

James never allowed me to call him Jamie.

"So, now can I know where we're going?" I asked James.

"We're going to hit a few bars and then I have a surprise for you," he grinned and I looked at him incredulously.

"I'm only seventeen and you're not old enough to drink," I reminded him.

He laughed, "Just relax, babe. Laurent is twenty one and, besides, Vicki hooked me up with an awesome fake ID. I'll get the drinks and we'll be fine."

"Besides," Laurent smirked, "the type of place that we're going I really doubt that they'll even ask for ID."

I frowned, not liking the implications of Laurent's comment and sure enough the first bar that James led me into was the seediest looking place that I had ever seen.

It was dank and gloomy, it smelt god-awful and the people seated around the bar looked like bad stereo-types from a mafia movie.

Typically Victoria and Laurent greeted everyone by name and to my surprise James also knew many of the people by name.

We sat down at a grimy booth and I glanced around, feeling overdressed. Even my company were dressed poorly and tackily. Victoria was wearing torn jeans and a fake fur wrap over her grimy green t-shirt and Laurent was no better.

I felt so out of place with these people as they talked about, drugs, alcohol and bars and I glared at James. My friends may not like him but they never deliberately ignored him or made him feel out of place.

The drinks that James had ordered were brought to our table and I eyed mine warily, not willing to drink something when I had no idea what was in it. But after one look from James I gulped it down and the one after it, and the one after that and I quickly found that the more I drank the more fun I was having.

Victoria no longer seemed cynical and crude, she was wise, a fountain of information, and Laurent wasn't a seedy creep – he was a hilarious person, and James, well he became my sweet James again. I knew that I was drunk but I didn't care if it made me feel this good.

We had been to several bars over the course of the night, each as seedy as the first and the drinks just kept coming.

I barely even noticed my surroundings as we dropped Laurent and Victoria in front of a club in the early hours of the morning and Victoria winked at me as I waved goodbye.

"Enjoy your surprise Alice, I know I did."

I just smiled at her, barely aware of what she was saying in my blissful, drunk state.

I didn't even notice that James was driving in the opposite direction of my house until he stopped the car and I saw that we were parked in a popular make out spot.

I frowned at him as his hand began running up my thigh, my alcohol induced haze beginning to wear off

"What are you doing and where the fuck are we?" I almost snarled as I glared at him.

"Relax baby," James grinned as his hands moved higher up to fondle my chest.

"Get your hands off of me," I snapped, sobriety suddenly hitting me with full force.

"No, you're my girlfriend and I have every right," James growled, "we've been dating for two years and you're seventeen years old, so just stop being such a goddamn baby".

"You honestly thought that you could get me drunk, drive me down to this tacky make out spot and I would have sex with you," I exploded, "take me home right now, James".

He opened his mouth to object but settled for glaring icily at me as he started the car and drove back toward my house. The car ride was silent and I was relieved when he finally stopped in front of my house.

I decided that this was it, the opportunity that I had been waiting for to break up with James. I opened my mouth to speak but before I could say anything he beat me to it.

"Look Alice, I'm really sorry, I don't know what I was thinking, and I can wait okay?" he said, almost sound completely sorry.

I frowned. I couldn't break up with him when he was being this sweet and he seemed genuinely sorry.

"Yeah sure, I'm sorry too James." I wasn't sure what I was apologising for but it seemed the appropriate thing to say.

"Good." he smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow okay babe?"

"Okay," I nodded

And with that he sped off, leaving me standing outside the front of my house at four o'clock in the morning berating myself for not taking that chance and ending it when I could.

**_REVIEW_**


End file.
